Cute furry friends, well, I think so!

Already I've mentioned how I love wildlife.  Now I know I'll be cursing certain creatures at a later date but I want to share which residents of Brambly Corner we've met already.

My first day on the plot back at the end of November I lifted up a sheet of old wood and a Wood mouse ran out.

Oh Wednesday I lifted some corrugated iron that had blown over and a family of Field Voles were all snuggled up together under there.  They were ever so sleepy and just looked up at me as if to ask what time it was, they were soooooo cute!  I could easily have scooped them up in my hands like pet hamsters.  But obviously I didn't and so they soon felt the chill and trotted off under something else together.

Mr Pheasant.

Now there are dozens of these noisy beggers! But one almost landed on Basil's head that first day I we were there...I don't know who was most shocked, him or the bird.  They're very beautiful and so unusual when you manage to get a good look at them close up.  Tasty too!

The 1st of December was our very first official day of the tenancy, and one of these waddled across the road as I parked my car on the lane near the gate. I had to come home and Google what it was but as it was only about 3 metres from me I got a good look and was thrilled to know it was a Grey Partridge.  Apt being December and the 1st day of opening our Advent calendars don't you think?  Shame that that was the day I arrived at the plot to find the previous tenant had rightfully come to claim all his bits and bobs off the plot, including a lovely pear tree. So I didn't get to see A Partridge in a pear tree either.  Not to worry.

Now then....I have to mention these little blighters!  I've not seen any of them on the plot, but I know they're there....hundreds of them apparently. The other plot holders all have their ways of keeping them off the veg and I'm obviously keen to learn how myself.

So there we are...

We hope to take this years Christmas tree down to the plot and have a little Winter bonfire with it, along with marshmallows and hot chocolate in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully a few more patches of weeding will get done and a plan of where to eventually put a shed and the compost bins.

Thank you for reading.

Claire. x

Plot 5 at it's worst, possibly.

I promised I'd take some photos of the plot as it looks now, without the wood bits around the raised beds and the tiered step up etc.  I'm sure there is a proper name other than 'wood bits' but anyhow, I'm sure you know what I mean.

 So on this photo you can see where the 'timber' was.

(you see that, how I have tried to make it sound like I know what I'm talking about?!)

...and also where I've weeded.

On Wednesday we had a lovely sunny morning and seeing as I had no children for the day I dashed down to the plot and got stuck in for an hour. Now I know it doesn't appear like I got much done, but what I did I enjoyed.  I'm determined to not push myself too hard, and to enjoy the whole idea of allotmenteering as much as I can. For me it's not all about the produce at the end of the season (good job really eh?! As if anything will grow) but about being out in the fresh air and and enjoying wildlife too. More about that soon.

Ever my faithful companion is Basil. Keeping a watchful eye out on the whole proceedings.

You may notice a few wooden pallets, I'm hoping Fin will build a compost bin with them soon. We just need to make some plans and some dry days.

We inherited this with the plot. Not sure what we can do with it for now but I'm sure it'll be useful somehow.  Any ideas?

Now I'm not certain, and we've not tested it or anything posh like that but our soil appears to be lovely.  It's crumbly and dark and smells fresh and earthy (I guess soil generally does smell earthy eh?) so I reckon plants will love it. The soil at home is horrid in comparison.

So, there you have it.

I'm hoping for some scaffolding boards to recreate the raised beds, and some wood chips to make some paths with, fingers crossed they won't cost too much.  Also need to sort out manure for some of the beds too. I knew writing this blog would be a good thing, if only to help me remember things.

Thanks for reading.

Claire. x



My little patch!

Right, here we go!

Off on another adventure, this time it's an

ALLOTMENT.

Now I have to be honest here that blog posts are far and few between with me lately.  But I love to take photos so what better way to do it than through a blog. So if you like to nosey then feel welcome to follow, if you comment I always try to respond, so lets see how we go eh?

Now this 'New' hobby of ours is most definitely a learn on the job effort and I'm hoping my boys are going to get heavily involved with it as in all honestly, it's for them that I am doing it.  I'd rather just sit in a deck chair and point at things!

I don't have many tools, nor a shed or even this deck chair I want to sit on, so it's most definitely a beg borrow or steal affair I'm afraid!  First on our list is to dig out the blasted weeds, mainly Creeping Buttercup!  Grrrrrr!

Now here's a few photos of PLOT 5.
This was before our tenancy officially started and as you see,

it has some raised beds and a bit of terracing to help with the slight slope...

These features have been removed by the previous tenant along with some of the plants

(spoil sport!)

Plus we've managed a bit of the old weeding.

So even though I'm showing you these photos now it doesn't look much like it now,

but go ahead and have a nosey.

The above photo you can see almost all the plot, the area of

tall brown weeds on the top right is the neighbour, so ours goes from

there down to just to my left as I took the photo.

About 45x30ft.

It's not your usual style of allotment site, well it isn't up at the end we're on.

That's Finley, waving at you. 

He's the keen gardener in the family and for whom I've done this for if I'm honest.

So there we are.

Brambly Corner: plot 5.

Nothing much happens between now and late Winter/early Spring so we'll see how we go with posts on here as and when.  I feel this blog may be more for my my own benefit as a diary mainly, therefore I'd best get some photos organised showing the plot as it is now, and start making some plans.

Thanks for reading and I do hope you won't be shy at offering any advice or encouragement along the way, goodness knows we're certainly going to need it. 

I'm not fooling anyone, I'm no Charlie Dimmock! 

Actually, I'd rather be Rachel De Thame.

Love Claire. x